“Lori, stop embarrassing her.” Sophie shot her a sympathetic look. “Sorry about my sister. I wish I could say this is an aberration, but the truth is, she’s always like this.”

Heather hoped they could move onto another subject, like Sophie’s pregnancy, but those hopes were quickly dashed as Sophie added, “Although it would be really fantastic if you two did start dating.”

Heather felt like she was back in high school, getting grilled on her secret crush as Lori said, “I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you.”

Heather barely restrained herself from asking, How does he look at me?

“He’s just happy I agreed to work with him and Cuddles.” She shook her head, remembering the way she’d found the two of them that first day at his garage. “I’m afraid the puppy was way too much for him to handle at first. But he’s done really well with her.”

Sophie smiled. “He’s always been great with animals and kids. Even when he tries to act like he can’t be bothered with them, they all adore him the instant they meet him.”

“Funny you should say that,” Heather found herself telling Zach’s sisters, “Atlas doesn’t trust men very often, especially big ones, but he was never afraid of Zach. Not for one instant.”

Lori clapped her hands together with glee. “You do think he’s great! I can’t wait for you to meet everyone,” she said as if it were now a done deal.

“I can’t date Zach!” Heather’s words came out too loud, too fast, too impassioned.

God, she was making such a fool of herself. As soon as Zach had shown up with Cuddles, she and Atlas should have hightailed it out of the ballpark. But she’d been so happy to see him. Had felt so incredibly, wonderfully alive just at the sound of his voice.

She’d thought she was strong enough not to be tempted by him. But not only had he succeeded in tempting her...he’d done it so fast it made her head spin. He was slipping in under her walls, and the armor she wore around her heart, too fast. Too frequently. It seemed that no matter how much energy she expended to try to push him away—when she remembered to push him away and wasn’t laughing with him or wanting him—she wasn’t even close to succeeding.

The problem was that while Zach was fun and blatantly sexual, he also came with a core of something real beneath the devil-may-care sarcasm. And that was precisely what scared her: the real man beneath the jokes and the sexual innuendo.

She could fight her reaction to the charming Zach, but the sweet, loving, genuine Zach was a whole other story.

Still, she knew she needed to keep fighting. Because if she made the mistake of letting him in, and then he ended up hurting her, she’d never forgive herself.

Of course, she hadn’t meant to insult the older brother Sophie and Lori clearly worshipped, so she said, “Zach is a nice guy. I’m sure he’ll find someone great one day.”

“I hope so,” Lori said with a sigh. “I know he acts like he doesn’t need anyone, but I’ve never bought his act. Then again, maybe it’s because he’s my brother and I love him and I don’t want him to be alone forever.”

“He loves you, too. All of you.” She’d known that ever since the first time he’d spoken of his family, before she’d ever met them. “He has pictures of you all over his house.”

Lori shot Sophie a look before saying, “You’ve been to his house?”

Heather clarified, “He had a bit of an emergency with Cuddles the first night they spent together. We had an emergency training session.”

One that ended with her hand in his and his lips on her cheek.

Strangely, Lori picked that moment to stop torturing Heather. Instead, she leaned back in her seat, popped a handful of popcorn into her mouth, and said around it, “Sophie’s right. I shouldn’t have said all that stuff to you. I was just so caught up in a fantasy of having someone like you as a sister-in-law instead of one of the awful girls he usually hooks up with.” She sighed. “It figures you’d be too smart to want anything to do with him.”

Jealousy hit Heather at the same moment as the urge to defend Zach did. Clearly, he could have—and regularly did have—any woman he wanted. Heck, as they’d been watching the game hadn’t every woman in their section been drooling over Zach, with Sophie’s good-looking husband coming in a close second?

“Trust me,” Lori continued, “I totally get why you don’t want to date Zach, but I have a couple of other great brothers who are single. Smith and Ryan are total catches, if you ask me.”

Heather was flattered, but couldn’t imagine being with a movie star or a professional athlete. “Thanks, but I’m not looking for a relationship right now.” Or ever.

Before Lori could get in one more word about her brothers and what great catches they all were, Heather turned to Sophie and asked her about her pregnancy. Heather loved kids as much as she loved dogs and as she edged closer to thirty, she was thinking more and more about when she was going to try to have them. She was beyond glad that there were so many options for a single woman, between in-vitro and adoption.

“Are you excited about having twins?”

Sophie lit up. “Yes. When I’m not terrified about having them.” Her face went all dreamy. “Jake is going to be a great father.”

Lori made a puking sound. “It’s bad enough that you’re all over each other like Saran Wrap. Save us from the love is perfect soundtrack, would you?”

Even though she silently agreed with Lori on the whole love thing, Heather was amazed that Sophie didn’t look the least bit insulted. Instead, she started singing, “Love is perfect, oh so perfect,” to the tune of I Feel Pretty.

Lori covered her ears and started singing Love Bites in a perfect imitation of Def Leppard’s singer until the three of them collapsed into giggles.

Suddenly, Heather actually wished she could date Zach. Not just because her hormones wouldn’t leave her alone, but because there was no doubt in her mind about how fun it would be to be a part of the Sullivan family.

But, even as she let herself envision that for a brief moment, she knew the reality was nothing like the fantasy. Regardless of how well things might start for her and Zach, no matter how much he seemed to like her and want her in the present, she knew with utter certainty that he wasn’t the kind of man who would ever commit to one woman forever.

So if a part of her was at all envious at the way Jake had continually kissed his pretty wife, if she secretly longed at all for a man to look at her with such complete adoration, all she had to do was remember the vow she’d made to herself when she was seventeen and had found out the truth about the extent of her father’s lies.

Never. She would never put herself in a position to be treated like that. Because she would never make the mistake of letting herself fall in love.

* * *

“Heather’s a pretty girl.”

Zach tugged Atlas away from the lamp post he was admiring and directed him toward a bush. “Pretty? Are you blind? She’s gorgeous.”

Jake nodded his agreement just as Cuddles got into a position that had Zach groaning. The blue bags were burning a hole in his pocket and he really wanted to keep it that way. It was one thing to clean up after the puppy in his backyard...

He muttered a curse that perfectly described not only what the puppy was doing, but Heather’s huge dog as well. Jake hadn’t stopped laughing at him since they’d left their seats and he only laughed harder now.

“So Heather’s just training the puppy?”

Zach wasn’t going to admit to his closest friend that he’d struck out with Heather a half-dozen times already and that the only way he’d gotten her here today was by tricking her into it.

“She’s one hell of a dog trainer.” And one hell of a woman, too.

Lord knew she had him wrapped so tightly around her little finger that he barely knew which way was up anymore. He only knew he wanted her more with every passing second...even as she tried to push him farther away.

Jake nodded in the direction of the dogs, both of whom were frisky now that they’d taken care of their important business. “Looks like you’ve got some cleanup to take care of.”

Zach still wasn’t completely okay with the fact that Jake had gotten his little sister pregnant on the sly. Which was why he shoved a blue bag in his friend’s hand and headed for Cuddles’s pile. Jake could deal with Atlas’s mess in the name of payback.

Chapter Thirteen

The second Zach sat between Lori, Sophie, and Heather, he could tell something was different. It was like they’d gone from being strangers to becoming friends.

Who knew what his little sisters had told her? All he needed was for some of his crazier exploits to get back to Heather and she’d grab her dog and start running.

“Everything go okay with Huge and Tiny?” she leaned close to ask him when Atlas plopped down across their feet and closed his eyes. Cuddles had already curled up against his chest, which was quite clearly the pup’s favorite place on earth, considering how much time she spent there.

“Those blue bags came in handy.”

He loved her smile and soft laughter. “Good,” she said, still chuckling. “Thanks for taking Atlas with you.” She looked at him almost shyly. “And thanks for changing my seat, too. I’ve really loved getting to know your sisters.”

Her sweet words landed straight in the center of his chest. He leaned closer, close enough that he could have easily taken her mouth with his.

“Whatever they’ve told you, it’s all lies.”

He expected more laughter, but her eyes were dark instead of filled with humor, and her breath was coming faster, her gaze trained on his lips.

“I hope not,” fell from her lips, and he would have kissed her right then and there, his lookeeloo family be damned, if she hadn’t jerked back sharply.

She focused her entire attention on the game after that, and the second it finished, she stood up. “That was fun. So nice to meet you all, but I should really be going—”

Lori cut her off. “Wait, you have to meet Ryan.” Before she could protest, his sister shoved past Zach, picked up Atlas’s leash, and slipped an arm through Heather’s. “You’re going to love him.” She winked over her shoulder at him before saying, “He isn’t anything like Zach.”

Okay, so Zach had been irritated with his sister earlier, but now he recognized Lori for the jewel she really was for not letting Heather run from him so fast.

Heather was frowning and he overheard her say, “Actually, I’m not sure it’s such a great idea if I go back where the rest of the team is.”

Lori brushed off her concern without asking for a reason. “Are you kidding? All those hot, sweaty guys make it a fabulous idea.”

As if Ryan would ever let Lori date one of the guys on his team in this lifetime. Fortunately, the players on the Hawks had always understood just how off-limits the Sullivan twins were. Unlike, he thought with a scowl in Jake’s direction, his own friend. Of course, given the way Sophie and Jake were always giving each other gooey looks the way they were right then, he supposed it had all worked out in the end.

Walking behind Heather, he couldn’t take his eyes off her gorgeous legs in her shorts, the sweet curve of her hips, the way her dark, shiny hair swung over her back in its usual braid. Frankly, the last thing he was worried about right now was his little sister. Because if Ryan—or any of his teammates—looked at Heather the wrong way, he was going to have to kill them.

* * *

Heather hadn’t been into the locker room before, even though she’d been invited more than once. If she’d taken the guy she dated occasionally up on his invitation, it would have made their casual relationship seem like more than it was.